Oakland police are conducting an internal investigation of the arrest of a city parks employee at his home by officers on the eve of Cinco de Mayo.

Jose Ortiz, director of the city-run Rainbow Recreation Center, says he suffered a broken wrist when he was arrested May 4 at his home after police responded to a call about a disturbance at the residence.

The accounts of police and Ortiz differ markedly as to what happened. Police say Ortiz, his son, Moses, and the son's wife were arguing in the front yard. All three were detained in police holding cells and released later that night without being booked.

"They were significantly under the influence of alcohol," said Sgt. Paul Figueroa, aide to Chief Richard Word. "Anytime there is a person under the influence of alcohol, that could cloud their perception of events."

Ortiz says police offered no explanation for why they arrived, nor did they ask him or his son to come along quietly. He alleges that an officer grabbed him in a choke-hold, threw him face-first onto the driveway and put handcuffs on him so tightly that his wrist broke.

The next day, Ortiz saw Word before the Cinco De Mayo parade and gave him a lift to a staging area, complaining to the chief of his arrest. Word decided to start an internal probe even though Ortiz did not file a written complaint.

Ortiz said at a news conference Thursday that he no longer trusted police after his second "bogus arrest" in two years. His attorney, John Burris of Oakland, and former Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris spoke in support of Ortiz.

Burris filed a lawsuit on March 27 in Alameda County Superior Court, alleging that Ortiz had been falsely arrested a year earlier, when police took him into custody on suspicion of theft and embezzlement after Ortiz removed a computer from the recreation center.

No charges were filed. The computer was not owned by the city, according to Ortiz and later confirmed by police.